Characterization of new and fouled SWRO membranes by ATR/FTIR spectroscopy

Abstract

Attenuated total reflection (ATR)-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to characterize the chemical nature of fouling species on different spiral wound membranes operated at Al-Jubail SWRO plant. Three membranes from different companies operated for a period of 1 year were opened for autopsy, and difference spectra were obtained for the fouled membrane from virgin membranes. The spectra of the foulants were easy to distinguish from the spectra of membrane material. The results showed that the membrane surface of the feed end element was more heavily fouled than the brine end of the element. ATR/FTIR indicated a distinct enhancement to the amide I (1650 cm −1) and amide II (1550 cm −1) bands indicative of protein, and the CO stretching band associated with polysaccharides is visible near 1040 cm −1. The deposits removed from the surface of membranes showed distinctive bands at 3270 and 1080 cm −1 associated with amino group/ polysaccharide.

Chemistry of alkaline and non-alkaline scaling in community RO for brackish water treatment operated with and without antiscalant doses

“…Therefore, rejected membrane from of Bharatpur district was analysed to assess whether any specific functional groups and inorganic compound were present. The peak at 1,580 cm À1 represents aromatic C═C type of bond, which indicates the polysulphone layer of thin-film composite membrane, similarly reported in Rahman et al (2018) that the peaks within the 1,700-1,500 cm À1 wavelength range are typical of polymer made of Udel polysulphone as shown in Figure 6 (Rahman et al 2018).…”

“…The peak at 689 cm À1 and 917 cm À1 probably belong to the aluminosilicate that is the major component of kaolin mineral (Chen et al 2015). As a comparison, the seawater membrane indicates predominantly organic fouling that defines most of the peaks observed in FTIR (Rahman et al 2018).…”

Enhanced Filtration Characteristics and Reduced Bacterial Attachment for Reverse Osmosis Membranes Modified by a Facile Method

“…For the virgin membrane, the following notable FTIR spectral peaks were observed: (i) a broad peak at ∼3300 cm –1 , corresponding to O–H adsorption from the atmospheric moisture, (ii) two small peaks at ∼2850 and 2928 cm –1 from the symmetric and asymmetric vibrational stretching, respectively, of the C–H group, (iii) a small peak at ∼1720 cm –1 corresponding to vibrational stretching of the CO group, and (iv) a small peak at ∼1150 cm –1 from vibrational stretching of the C–N group. These groups so identified are characteristic of the topmost layer of the bare polyamide membrane that was studied.…”

Permeability and Antifouling Augmentation of a Hybrid PVDF-PEG Membrane Using Nano-Magnesium Oxide as a Powerful Mediator for POME Decolorization

“…On the contrary, no similar band observed in the neat membrane spectra (red spectrum). The noticeable bands in the neat membrane spectra appeared at 1663, 1397, 1175, 1067 and 883 cm −1 which can be attributed to stretch vibrations of amide-I, methyl bonds, CF 2 , polysaccharides and complex aromatic functional group, respectively [54,55]. It was noticed that the stretch band at 1175 cm −1 was peculiar in both spectra which resulted due to intrinsic vibration of asymmetric CF 2 of the PVDF-PEG composition [56].…”